From summer 2014 onward a widespread international coalition has established against ISIS. However, the fate of this campaign is very much dependent on getting a rooted understanding of the rise of this phenomenon that has now turned into a global crisis.
ISIS is the offspring of unprecedented crimes by the mullahs’ regime ruling Iran, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and the policies of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against Sunnis in Iraq and Syria. Despite Assad’s unbounded savagery, Iran has since 2011 thrown all its military might and its intelligence, financial and diplomatic support behind Damascus to prevent its downfall. Meanwhile, the U.S. government and the West have chosen to continue their inaction, regardless of the fact that Assad crossed their explicit red line of using chemical weapons against innocent civilians.
Following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Iranian regime transformed this country into its own backyard and used al-Maliki to expand its influence throughout all organs and entities of this important Shiite-majority neighbor. The Iranian resistance revealed a list containing the names and specifications of 32,000 individuals who were working in the Iraqi government and parliament but were also on the payroll of Iran’s terrorist Quds Force.
Terrorist militants linked to the Iranian regime have been freely roaming and creating carnage in large swathes of Iraq for years, enjoying the cooperation of al-Maliki’s forces during his tenure as premier and those loyal to him now. Obama not only showed no serious reaction to these crimes perpetrated by Shiite militants in Iraq, in fact through a stark misinterpretation he considers them as partners in the fight against ISIS.
Showing lenience in the face of the most destructive dictatorship of modern history in Iran and its proxies in Iraq is not only of no help in the fight against extremists in Iraq and Syria, in fact it helps the growth and expansion of ISIS and its recruiting efforts in the Middle East and Europe. Through this very
wrong policy adopted by the Obama Administration, Shiite militants linked to the Quds Force – much more vicious than ISIS – filled the vacuum wherever ISIS retreated.
What is the main threat and what is the solution to defeat this threat?
The biggest diversion in the war against ISIS is to partner the Iranian regime in this effort. Following the fall, its ally (al-Maliki) in Iraq, Tehran has focused all its efforts in establishing the “Popular Mobilization Units” in this country and Syria, using the Lebanese Hezbollah as their model for this initiative.
Iran’s objective is to restore its hegemony in these countries under the pretext of fighting against ISIS. By establishing such a force the Iranian regime is actually preparing itself for a confrontation against the U.S. in the Middle East, knowing its defeat is certain if the front lines of this war are retreated from Syria and Iraq to its own borders.
Therefore, to relieve the region from terrorists and Islamic fundamentalism there is a vital need for a set of political, military and cultural tools:
Politically: defining the quarrying lines in the region against fundamentalism is more necessary than ever before. Governments and nations across the region will inevitably be divided into two fronts.
On one side there is Islamic fundamentalism and extremism, with its heart beating in Tehran; and on the other will be the international community and Muslim nations that are actually targeted and threatened by Islamic fundamentalism.
Militarily: there is no prospect in sight for victory without the participation of anti-fundamentalist and patriotic forces. Iraqi Sunni tribes and leaders have time and again announced their readiness to confront ISIS if Tehran-linked militants are set aside.
Culturally: a cultural and ideological alternative is critically needed in the fight against extremism under the pretext of Islam. An alternative based on a tolerant and democratic Islam, with gender equality being one of its main tenets. Otherwise, the Iranian regime and Sunni extremists will derail the fight against fundamentalism by smearing it as the West’s antagonism vis-à-vis Islam.
Ever since the first “Islamic” state came to power in Iran back in 1979, the ayatollahs began taking advantage of religious sentiments and the name of Islam to pursue their objectives in establishing a Shiite crescent in the Middle East and expanding their dictatorship, all aimed at maintaining and strengthening their own rule.
However, before this devious phenomenon stood a nationwide resistance movement, consisting of hundreds of thousands of freedom-loving Iranians and forming a democratic alternative against this fundamentalist regime. The Iranian regime has so far executed more than 120,000 of these opposition members over the past three decades.
The policy of appeasing dictators by turning a blind eye to their crimes continues to encourage terrorism and violence. The result of this mistaken policy to this day has provided an opportunity for the Iranian regime to expand terrorism, equip the Lebanese Hezbollah with a missile arsenal, pursue its nuclear weapons program and most importantly, spread fundamentalism from the Middle East to Africa and across Europe.
Continuing this wrong policy will have serious consequences against peace and security for the international community as the battlegrounds of this war for Islamic fundamentalists are no longer limited to the Middle East.
When a Jordanian pilot is held in a cage and burned to the joy of his captors; when Egyptian Coptic Christians are mass executed; when a 26-year old Arizona resident becomes the latest victim of terrorism after enduring one-and-half years in detention; when Yemen’s government is toppled with the Iranian regime financially backing the Houthi rebels; when we think about various terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram in Nigeria, in Africa and the Middle East staging or inspiring attacks even in the streets of Paris, what we must take into consideration is that Tehran has turned into a stimulus, and a source of direct or indirect political, financial and even ideological back up for these groups.
If analyzing the reason behind the emersion of ISIS and Islamic fundamentalism takes us to the Middle East, then we must search this very region for the solution. We must enlighten public opinion to the truth that Tehran – with its diverted and profit seeking political perspectives – is the first example of Islamic fundamentalism that reached political power back in the 20th century.
Confronting this phenomenon today is true Islam, founded on peace and friendship, and having the ability to provide ideological and cultural enlightenment in the Middle East to overcome and isolate this evil force. This is the real weapon needed for a strategic solution against ISIS and Islamic fundamentalism.
Until this is uprooted, with its epicenter located in Tehran, there will be no end in sight for this threat against world peace and security.
Currently, there is a strong front shaping in the Middle East against Islamic fundamentalism. The most experienced and organized force standing against this evil is the Iranian Resistance led by Maryam Rajavi, a Muslim and democratic woman. This is a very significant and new sensation in modern time, and the West must focus all its efforts in supporting this anti-fundamentalism alliance as the only solution to guarantee peace and security in the Middle East and abroad.
The West must take into consideration that cooperation with the Iranian regime in the fight against ISIS is like asking arsonists help put out a raging inferno. This is a prescription that will no doubt lead to even more catastrophes.
Any mistake can be corrected, even in its final stages. For Mr. Obama, there is still time to correct his strategy. But the clock is ticking…
